


Fighting The Mark

by Bookwyrm20



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, M/M, Omega!Qrow, Volume 4 Chapter 7
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-31
Updated: 2019-04-17
Packaged: 2019-12-30 01:21:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18305279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bookwyrm20/pseuds/Bookwyrm20
Summary: Almost a year ago, Tyrian had captured Qrow and Marked him as his Omega. Now Qrow is fighting to save his niece, and fighting his own traitorous instinct.





	1. Refusing to Submit

**Author's Note:**

> Ruby and Qrow are both Omegas, Tyrian, Jaune, and Nora are Alphas, and Ren is a Beta. This is my first time trying out these dynamics, so if anyone has some words of wisdom to help improve my writing, I would be grateful!

The sound of metal striking metal resounded through the air. Qrow let out a soft sigh of relief. He had made it in time to protect Ruby. The scorpion Faunus leapt back, and Qrow swung to face him. As soon as their eyes met, an icy ball of fear settled in Qrow’s stomach. He had met this agent of Salem before, and it hadn’t been pleasant.

His grip on his sword tightened.

Tyrian let out a small chuckle. “As I live and breathe! Qrow Branwen. A true huntsmen has entered the fray!” He gave a mocking bow, tilting his head up to let his eyes flicker over Qrow, pausing on his Mark. “I knew you’d come back to me.”

 Qrow glowered. “I’m not here for _you._ I’m here to protect my niece.”

 “Wait, you know him?” said niece piped up. Tyrian snickered, adopting a look of false hurt. He placed one hand on his chest and reached the other out to the group.

 “Oh, my love, have you not told anyone about me?” At Qrow’s flinch, Tyrian’s lips curled up. “After all, it has been nearly a year since I Marked you as mine. Just look how it glows! It recognizes your Alpha, even if you refuse to submit.”

Indeed, the circular bite that claimed Qrow as Mated was glowing a soft purple. He could feel the Omega in him starting to stir and forced it back. He wouldn’t give in to his stupid biology and submit to the Alpha who had forced the Mark on him. 

Tyrian wasn’t finished. “As for your niece, my assignment from Her Grace was to retrieve this young girl, so that is what I must do. One must not upset the Queen.

“Queen?” Ruby asked, confusion and fear laced in the single word.

“Salem.”

“Who?”

Tyrian curled his tail and poised to spring.”I think we’ve had enough talk now don’t you?” He pinned Qrow with his gaze and released his Alpha pheromones. “ _Submit.”_

Qrow staggered as his Omega screamed in response to the scent of _his Alpha, my Alpha, lower your weapon and kneel kneel kneel bare your neck let him protect he is my Alpha bare your neck-_

He managed to gain his footing and raised his sword, fending off a flurry of blows. He swiped out, but Tyrian leaped over the blade to land in front and attack again. Qrow ducked out of the way and rushed back, weapons meeting each other in a burst of sound and throwing Tyrian back a few paces. Qrow pressed his advantage and went on the offense, twirling and slashing even as his senses yelled at him not to hurt the other. There was no reason for his Omega side to worry, as Tyrian twirled and parried every blow as if they were engaged in a synchronized dance. Qrow jumped into the air and spun towards Tyrian, who barely managed to raise his weapon in time. Behind them, part of a roof collapsed.

Qrow smirked down at Tyrian, whoa answered with his own grin. He released his Alpha pheromones in a stronger wave, the scent reaching as far as the children and sending Ruby to her knees. JNR surrounded her, sleeves held to their noses. Qrow lurched back, desperately raising his arm to his face. He was able to react in time to deflect every shot Tyrian made. His Omega took over for a brief second and his sword lowered, allowing a bullet to graze his shoulder. Ren and Nora rushed forward, attempting to attack Tyrian from behind.

The faunus bent nearly completely backward, leering at the two and easily shifting opponents.He kicked the two back to Ruby and rushed to his primary target. Qrow jumped in front, chest heaving, and stopped Tyrian with his sword. Tyrian shoved, causing Qrow to bring his other hand to his weapon and push back. He glanced over his shoulder.

“Don’t come closer!”

Ruby felt her anger crawl up as she watched her uncle go back to fighting the man who had forced a Mark upon him. She had been there when Qrow had come home from that mission, shaking, red eyes dead. Her father had sent her and Yang to their rooms. She needed to help somehow.

She ran over to a building, jumping up and firing her scythe to land her on the tower. Ruby planted her scythe into the roof, peering through the scope as the two men battled back and forth. They moved too quickly for her to get a clear shot.

On the ground, Qrow was fighting with everything he had, firing off a fair amount of bullets. None of them made contact. He shifted his head out of the way of Tyrian’s tail, only to have it wrap around his wrist and jerk the sword from his grasp. Tyrian was quick to drive his advantage, sinking his hand into Qrow’s hair. He forced Qrow’s head to the side, revealing the Mark he had placed there so long ago. The purple glow intensified as Tyrian brought his mouth close to his neck, inhaling deeply. Qrow tried to twist away, but he just tightened his grip to an excruciating degree. “You look so pretty with your Mark bared before your Alpha,” he crooned. He gently laid his teeth against the Mark and bit down, trying to force the Omega to submit.

Qrow’s scream drowned out the sound of bullet singing through the air. Tyrian chuckled against Qrow’s throat, tail twisting to avoid more bullets. Qrow curled his fingers in tightly and punched Tyrian as hard as he could, sending him back with a sickening crunch and tearing his teeth away from the purple Mark. He brought his foot up and kicked the faunus further away, calmly going to where his sword stuck out of a building. As he wrapped his hand around the hilt, he heard Tyrian shift and moved on top of his sword, activating the mechanism and using the scythe to push him away. Qrow used the momentum to launch himself into the air, grabbing a plank and ripping it from the roof. Tyrian shot up after him, swiping the plank from underneath and attacking again. They traded blows, neither managing to land a good hit on the other.

Qrow set his semblance to work, scoping out the weak parts of the building and running to position himself near the rotting wood. As Tyrain followed, his foot crashed through. Qrow went to jump off the roof when his tail wrapped around his ankle, dragging Qrow down into the house.

Ruby watched the house collapse and felt fear spike through her. She used her scythe to carry her safely to the ground and rushed to where her uncle had disappeared. The wall near her exploded out, Qrow tumbling along the ground. She saw him fling his weapon out and use it to curb his momentum, straightening up and watching the wall intently. She was glad to be able to see him, but she noticed his aura was starting to crack. Flickers of red traced his body, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw flickers of purple fly out. As Tyrian rushed her uncle, her impulses kicked in, and she deflected the attack with Crescent Rose.

Faintly, she heard Jaune call her name. Tyrian scoffed. “Do you wish to be taken?”

“No! But I won’t stand by and watch someone get hurt!” She couldn’t let this man near her uncle. Qrow was strong, but she could see his Omega slowly taking over in the way his head canted and how his breathing had changed. Blood soaked his collar. If Tyrian released anymore of his Alpha, she wasn’t sure her uncle would be able to resist.

She ran, searching for his weak spots. Her uncle followed after her. Tyrian managed to use his weapons to block both blows, twisting his body to deliver a vicious kick to Qrow. Ruby saw Tyrian’s eyes flash at Qrow’s grunt of pain, as though his Alpha didn’t want to hurt him. She didn’t have time to dwell on that as he let loose a barrage of bullets. She didn’t see his tail swiping towards her until it was too late.

Qrow twisted his sword behind his back, stopping Tyrian from stinging his niece. He spun around to shove against Tyrian, barring his way forward. He turned his head slightly to call over his shoulder. “Ruby! What did I say! Get back!”

He could feel her resolution, so much like Summer’s, as she replied. “This is my fight too!” He saw her attempt to get behind Tyrian, unknowingly placing herself beneath the beam his semblance had been focused on.

“No, it’s not that, its-” Ruby attacked before he could finish. Tyrian turned away from him to parry her blow, forcing her to flip back and directly underneath the falling beam. Qrow saw her look up in fear, his feet moving on instinct to reach her. He sliced through the beam, causing it to land safely away from them. He met Ruby’s gaze, a small smile on his lips as he realized she was unharmed.

As soon as he let his guard drop, he felt Tyrian’s stinger slash his side open. Poison flooded his veins in a burst of agony as he look down at the wound, horrified. He was snapped out of it as the sound of Crescent Rose firing sang through the air, accompanied by a disgusting squelch.

Ruby watched as Tyrian’s tail whipped around in a frenzy of pain as he howled curses at her. In her peripheral, she saw her uncle move as if to reach a hand out the faunus before quickly going to clasp the bleeding wound. Tyrian’s eyes tracked the movement, and he unconsciously let a faint trace of protectiveness creep into the air. Ruby readied Crescent Rose for another attack as he lurched toward Qrow. Jaune, Ren, and Nora moved to create a barrier between them.

Tyrian flicked his eyes between them, his gaze settling on Qrow’s as he hunched on himself.

“She’ll forgive you,” He murmured quietly. With that, he turned and fled.

As soon as Qrow knew for sure that Tyrian was gone, he collapsed to his knees with a pained groan, Harbinger falling from his hand to clatter on the stones.

“Uncle Qrow! Are you okay?” Distantly, Qrow felt Ruby lay her hand on his shoulder. The poison was beginning to dull to a faint throb, but he knew it wasn’t going to stay that way. But he didn’t have to tell the children that. They didn’t need to worry over him.

“I’ll be fine. He just grazed me.” He removed his hand to show the shallow slice in his skin, crimson already coating his palm. The others ran to crowd around him, bombarding him with questions.

“Who was that guy?”

“How did you get here?”

“Why are people after Ruby?”

“Uncle Qrow? What’s going on?”

Qrow panted heavily, trying to steady his breathing. He weakly raised his head to meet Ruby’s terrified eyes.

“What’s your favorite fairy tale?”


	2. Telling the Story

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Qrow explains to the group what happened to him. Takes place after everyone is reunited in Mistral.

“OH! Raven?! Qrow?!” Nora paused dramatically and looked around. “They’re birds!” She placed her hands behind her head with a smug smile on her face. Ren just sighed and shook his head. “Cracked it.”

Qrow rolled his eyes, feeling bad for Ren. He glanced up to see Ruby looking at him, and took a breath to steel himself. “Yang, you said you wanted the full truth from now on. And I promised Ruby that once you were here, I’d tell you about my Mark.” The lighthearted feeling in the room evaporated. Yang stared in astonishment.

“Why?”

It was Ruby who answered. “We met the Alpha. Tyrian. We fought him on our way here.” She looked back at Qrow. “If you don’t want to tell us, you don’t have to.”

“I should, though. If the rest of you want to stay and hear it, I’m fine with that as well.” When nobody moved except for Oscar to sit down, he inhaled deeply and tried to figure out how to start. “I was in Vacuou, on a mission from Oz. We’d heard that one of Salem’s agents was there trying to gain more supporters, and he thought I’d be able to get better idea of who was on her side.”

_“We know that Hazel has joined, but we don’t know much else. Hopefully you can find out more, and we can prepare for her allies.” Ozpn sipped from his mug. “It would be best if you pretend you’re interested in joining. She doesn’t know who you are, and we can use that to our advantage.”_

_“No.” Ironwood seethed. “He doesn’t need to put himself in that kind of danger. He can eavesdrop from above and get the intel we need.”_

_Qrow rolled his eyes at his overprotective boyfriend. “Jimmy, this isn’t my first mission where I’ve been undercover.”_

_“There’s no need for you to take an unnecessary risk.”_

_“It’s perfectly necessary. You heard Oz, I’ll learn how she’s recruiting people as well as who’s already sided with her. It’ll be in and out.” Qrow stepped forward and laid a hand on James’ face. “Hey, look at me. I’ll be alright.”_

_James lifted his hand to cover Qrow’s. “Fine. But be sure to call me if anything happens. I have operatives who can help.”_

“So, I dug around, listening in on conversations that weren’t meant to be heard. After nearly two weeks, I caught wind of a man who promised wishes. Not much to go on, but I figured best to check it out.” Qrow unscrewed the cap of his flask and took a drink. “I was able to find him at a back alley bar, talking to the most desolate of people. He told them that the world could be theirs, so long as they pledged allegiance to ‘Her Majesty.’ I approached him when he was alone, pretending I was interested. He told me that some of the others were meeting the next night down at the warehouses.

“I thought I was being safe by flying around the area early to make sure he wasn’t lying. I watched as some of the people from the alley shuffled in before shifting and going in to join them. But they had already been bought out.”

_They seemed like they were there to hear the man, Tyrian, tell them about Salem. The doors slammed shut, and immediately they turned on Qrow. One slammed his face with the handle of his pistol, causing stars to burst across his vision. He reached back for his scythe, but a hand was already there, grabbing his wrist and twisting it up to the center of his back. He was forced down onto the ground and felt a needle pierce his neck. The world began to swim and fade._

“I guess I count myself lucky that I knew Vacuou well enough that when I woke up, I could tell exactly where I was. A few miles outside the city limits once stood a small town. The town is gone now, but the ruins of the prison still stood. I was locked in one of those cells. Tyrian informed me that we were waiting until evening fell, and then he was taking me back as a trophy for Salem. I guess he wasn’t patient enough for that, though.”

_His hands were chained behind him, connected to a pole sunk in the center of the cell. A rag was tied over his mouth to prevent him from speaking. Harbinger and his scroll were gone, as was his several small knives hidden on him. Tyrian watched him through the bars, giggling._

_“As soon as night falls, I’ll be taking you back to the Queen. No one will ever find you- if anyone even bothers looking.” At that, Tyrian began laughing hysterically. The sun started to dip, painting the world in red and gold. Tyrian was staring at him again, eyes tracing his body. “Perhaps I don’t need to wait that long.”_

_Tyrian unlocked the cell door and stepped inside, tail whipping around him. Qrow tried to move away, but there wasn’t anywhere to go. Tyrian grabbed a fistful of his hair, causing tears to prick at Qrow’s eyes. He brought his mouth to Qrow’s neck._

_“You’re my Omega now.”_

_His teeth sunk deep into Qrow’s flesh and he screamed, the rag muffling the sound. Blood flowed down his collar as Tyrian bit harder, holding Qrow’s head still even as he thrashed._

Ruby looked like she was about to cry. Oscar looked like he might be sick. The others had faces of horror, but Yang… she looked angry. Qrow wondered how the fight might’ve gone if Yang had been traveling with them. She probably would’ve ripped Tyrian’s tail completely off. Qrow took a longer swig, trying to stop himself from becoming lost in the memory.

Ren was the first to break the silence. “How did you escape?”

Qrow gave a harsh laugh. “Jimmy mentioned that he had operatives in Vacuou. Apparently, one of them had been watching me.” He locked eyes with Weiss. “Winter noticed I was missing, and used an aura tracker to figure out where I had been taken.”

_Tyrian’s teeth were ripped away from Qrow as a glowing white Beowolf smashed into him. Qrow slumped to the ground, dizzy from pain. Someone in the gray clothes of Vacuou knelt before him and reached a hand towards the bleeding wound. He flinched away from the figure._

_“Qrow, it’s me. It’s Winter.” When she reached out her hand a second time, Qrow kept still. She carefully untied the gag before going over to Tyrian’s slumped form and finding the key. Winter unlocked his chains and slipped an arm underneath him, helping him stand. There was an airship waiting outside. The pain from Qrow’s Mark began to grow, spearing through his skull in a burst of agony. He felt Winter catch him and heard her calling his name, telling him to stay awake. It hurt so much. It was so much easier to give in the calm darkness._

_He awoke to the sound of yelling._

_“You shouldn’t have made him go!”_

_“I didn’t make him-”_

_“Like he’d ever turn down a mission from you. Dammit Oz, he’s a spy. He’s supposed to observe, not try to get in the middle of things.” Qrow groaned and blinked open his eyes to see James towering over Oz. He turned, blue eyes frantically running over him. “Qrow?”_

_Instead of answering, Qrow raised a hand to feel the wound and was met with thick bandages. Shame bubbled up in him._

_“Leave.”_

_“Qrow-” James took a step towards him, but stopped when Qrow curled in on himself. He sighed. “Call me when you’re ready, okay? I’m here for you.”_

“The Mark held, and I was released from the hospital a few days later. Oz told me to rest, so I stayed at Patch for a while. And, well, you girls know the rest,” he finished. He took another drink to avoid looking at anyone. He could feel Yang’s anger permeating the air.

“I’m going to kill him,” Yang seethed. “I’m going to rip his heart out of his chest.”

Nora stood at pointed at her, as if in challenge. “Not if I get him first!” As the group began to discuss they best way to maim and kill Tyrian, Qrow felt a small smile slip into place. Perhaps James was right. The Mark didn’t define him. And there were more people on his side than he realized.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure I like how it ended, but I didn't know what else to do. If anyone has any suggestions to make it better, I'd love to hear them. Thank you for read

**Author's Note:**

> The next chapter will take place when Yang and Weiss join up with the group, and Qrow will finally tell them how he got his Mark. Constructive criticism is appreciated!


End file.
